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SXSW

SXSW, or South by Southwest, is an annual set of festivals and conferences that focus on a variety of topics, including music, film, interactive media, education, environment, and the startup industry. From its beginnings in 1987 as a small music festival, it has grown to be a worldwide leader in the many areas it covers.

All stories in SXSW

The future for weed growers is an exciting one. Innovative companies like Snaphash, which I visited with today, are taking a forward-thinking approach to the centuries-old cannabis business. The upcoming product aims to ensure higher yields, fewer problems, and an Instagram-like ...

Where is Uber? Lyft? What the fuck is RideAustin?
These are just a few of the questions you find yourself asking when stepping off a plane in Austin, Texas. Austin is one of a handful of places in the US that have banned both Uber and Lyft from doing business within the city. ...

If you looked past the VR overload, there were a ton of completely outlandish products being featured on the floor at SXSW. So many, that we decided to make a roundup of the weirdest, craziest shit we could find for y'all to enjoy. So enjoy.
BelliesWave
To be fair, the lady ...

The SXSW trade show floor was so filled with wonderful and weird products, companies and services, it made it hard to select what to check out. A fact that doesn't make that selection easier, is that tech companies have the tendency of selecting names that make no sense at all and ...

The joystick is one of gaming's most beloved controllers, and now you can use one directly with your phone, no plugs or Bluetooth necessary.
What is it?
MotionPlay is a small phone attachment, made by Widevantage, which functions like a tiny joystick. It uses magnets and software, ...

Imagine being able to talk, navigate, and listen to music while riding a motorcycle. CrossHelmet's features make this easy.
What is it?
CrossHelmet is a smart motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display that has built-in, app-controlled features such as a GPS, music player, and Bluetooth ...

If you're looking for an efficient way to control your smart home ... keep looking, because this admittedly funky cube is not the device you need.
What is it?
The NeoControl Cubee interface is a cube-shaped controller designed to be used with the NeoControl Pro smart home app. ...

Of all the weird things I've seen in Austin, these shoes might be the weirdest. Bluetooth-connected and constantly uploading data to the cloud, these "smart" sneakers come with a lot of questions and few answers.
The shoes are a "co-creation" by Fjitsu, SnowRobin and two Japanese ...

We've seen some VR experiences here at SXSW that will make you sick, but there was one which took you on a nice trip instead. The 8K VR ride was more like a pleasant stroll through Tokyo -- albeit with a lot of wind in your hair.
What is it?
The ride uses 8K, an absurdly large ...

2016 was the year of VR. If you took that to mean the beginning of the VR age -- a glorious time where headsets fly off the shelves and everyone runs to the nearest gaming rig to plug in -- you'd be wrong. We're only a year into this so-called "next big thing" and it's hard not to ...